my backyard herd (so far) baby cows alert :D

[username taken]

Just wondering how much you are feeding these babies, because they are all looking a bit hungry.

correct they are all dairy cows, Opie however has a good dose of Simmental/Fleckvieh in him, which is a beef breed, and you can tell by his body conformation compared to the rest of him.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Ok, all holstein and holstein mixes.

A couple of them are only three or four days old - and yes, I am feeding them just fine. They always look hungry

they just want to eat all the time. If I fed them all they would take, they would get sick and die.

The place we get them keeps them on Mama cow for two days, so they get the colostrum they need. It is a dairy farm, so they keep the girls, and we get the boys. We pay a little more from this place, but the babies are all healthy and bigger than the norm when we get them.

We got them to raise to around 450-500 pounds, then sell them. We'll keep one for our own freezer, but in the meantime they are my spoiled babies.

Mookie is the oldest and he is only three weeks old, BamBam is a little younger - he was a smaller baby when he got here - the rest were bigger than he is.


eta - the little red one is now Norman

good name, I loved that movie.

meri

 

[Redyre Rotties]

They are so adorable!!

What do you plan to do with them?

 

[trinitymare]

They look wonderful to me!

great job with them!

cute cute cute...

 

[SamG347]

I thought they looked like little Steers? Correct? Also what are the crossed with? Looks like a Holstein x Beef of some sort. The one looks almost like a Holstein x Jersey...I love what that cross looks like as adults.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

They are little bulls still - gonna band them soon (when they go out on pasture) then they'll be steers, but yeah, they are all boys. .

I am not sure what they are mixed with - I have a friend who does the deal for me, and picks them up - so I let him get them, and I never have seen the farm they come from.

I know my friend said he had some jersey crosses on that farm, so I am thinking there is some jersey in Norman, anyway - he is more brownish red than reddish red.

meri

 

[lasergrl]

norman looks to be a guernsey

 

[txchickie]

Quote:
ALL of those babies look great!!!!

I don't understand how they look hungry?

Too cute for words, but better you than me with the bottle calves

It's fun for me to play mommy for a few days, but being married to a calf for 6 weeks is a little much for me LOL!

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I think dairy breeds in general have a tendency to always looked starved and emaciated. LOL

I think to most people who aren't used to seeing dairy cattle in healthy condition(non-obese) it's kind of a shocker! I know it took me the longest time to get used to that dairy cattle just have some weird angles to them. I'm used to dogs and horses, so imagine my face when I saw what a healthy dairy animal looks like!

They are very cute animals and seem to be very healthy and well cared for. Nice coats and a clean, controlled, and safe environment. Progessive pictures are a must!

-Kim

 

[OSUman]

ooo it looks like you have a red holistein im surprised they wouldnt keep that one for breeding.